James Mangels has lived all around the country, but his last job was as assistant principal of Christian County Middle School. Born in New York, he has taught science in Florida and North Carolina. In a Phoenix suburb, he worked as a “teacher on special assignment,” which he described as an assistant principal without the title.

Mangels’ began his first head principal job at Trigg County Middle School last year, but he said he always felt drawn to the assistant principal’s job partly because he used to get into trouble fairly often when he was young. He said that as a teacher, he always gravitated toward the “tough kids” because he felt like other teachers didn’t necessarily want to take the time to get to know them.

Mangels said Cadiz is different from Christian County in some small but important ways. He said he always describes Christian County as “a rural setting with an inner-city culture,” and that Trigg County children are much better behaved and respectful.

“They are by far the best group of kids I’ve had the opportunity to work with, and I tell them that whenever I get the chance,” he said.